The ESA Foundation, representing the charitable arm of the games industry, has announced that they will be making 30 scholarships available this year to aspiring female and minority game developers.

The 30 scholarships represent a doubling of the foundations scholarship offerings over their first two years of operation, granting qualified applicants $3,000 towards their continued game development education. The scholarships are available to minority and female students who are either attending high school or studying development-related subjects at accredited four-year anniversaries.

"A growing number of students know that computer and video games are the premier entertainment medium for expressing their impressive creativity and innovative thinking," said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents U.S. computer and game publishers. "We are excited to provide these scholarships to help future game industry employees make the dreams that they have for themselves and our industry a reality."